Liberian Registry Applauds Ukraine Boost for Tanker Owners

Tuesday, July 29, 2003

The Liberian Registry welcomes the action recently taken by the Ukrainian
government to reduce port costs for Liberian-flag ships, which will help
tanker owners and raise standards in the Black Sea trades. The Ukrainian
Government Order No.1069 of 17 July 2003 cancelled the different tonnage
dues tariffs for vessels flying favored and non-favored flags. Tonnage
dues are now the same for both categories. The effect of the change was to
remove the last tariff barrier preventing the use of Liberian-flag tankers
serving the Black Sea oil export trades.
Yoram Cohen, CEO of LISCR, says, "The Ukrainian government's decision to
harmonise port dues so that ships of all flags calling at Ukrainian ports
pay the same rate means owners can now opt for the highest quality flags to
access the trade. This is good news for the Ukraine, good news for tanker
owners worldwide, good news for the Black Sea, and good news for the
Liberian flag.
"Liberia is the flag of choice for the world's tanker fleet. The previous
system in the Ukraine, under which ships of a few favoured flags were
charged lower port dues, effectively made it difficult for owners of aframax
and suezmax tankers trading to Black Sea ports to benefit from the
efficiency of the Liberian Registry, and difficult for Ukrainian ships
flying foreign flags to trade to their own ports. Now a typical 80,000 dwt
vessel under our flag will see port costs cut by as much as 70 per cent when
calling at Ukrainian Black Sea ports. Owners can now use their flag of
choice, unhindered by two-tier charging systems for port dues. We believe
this will raise safety and environmental standards in the Black Sea trades,
as more vessels move to our registry and then have to meet Liberia's
stringent standards."
In the recently released 2002 report of the Paris Memorandum of
Understanding on Port State Control, the Liberian Registry has once again
underlined its reputation for the highest standards of safety and efficiency
by retaining its position as the best-performing major ship register.
With the introduction of more selective targeting, expanded inspections and
new banning provisions, the Paris MoU is moving towards a zero-tolerance
policy. It ranks individual flags in Black, Grey and White Lists, based on
their performance over a three-year rolling period. The Liberian Registry is
consistently in the top ten in the prestigious White List, with a
significantly superior performance compared to any register of comparable
size.